Friday, November 23, 2012

Garrett
Johnson, Maurice Loridans, Loren Demerath, Feico Kempff, and Cynthia
Keith met on Monday the 12th and discussed a range of topics. The
meeting began with talk of Garrett’s honeymoon in Boston and New York,
where he and his bride Susan Fontaine used trains to get around. The
inimitable appeal of train travel was noted. DOWNTOWN BIKE RACKS REPORTEDLY IN-PROGRESSGarrett
asked for an update on the bike racks that Liz Swaine had asked about.
Previously Liz asked us to specify where bike racks should go and
Maurice then specified the sites. It has been turned over to SRAC who
have since made the call to artists for designing the bike racks. It
seemed like it was a done deal at the time. It was noted they’ve done
the other improvements along Edwards street from the Convention Center
to Milam that were in the Downtown 2010 plan, though they haven’t
installed the benches yet. The plan was to beautify streets leading
into the Convention Center; not along Caddo St., though, because that’s a
state highway (Rt. 173), and so can’t be amended like city streets.BIKE DEPOT AND COOPERATIVE PERCOLATINGThe
bike coop team of Garrett Johnson, Maurice Loridans, and John Gilliland
has had several meetings outside of ABS. (By the way, illustrating the
unanticipatable benefits of social networking and community
organization, John has just given Garrett a used tandem bicycle. Those
in Garrett’s network bold enough to ask to borrow it, take note!) A
number of options have been discussed, including using a shipping
container to store tools in one of the empty lots on Texas Avenue. Such
lots could also be used as a bike-corale for Maker’s Fair. Other
possible locations for the coop were discussed, including Centenary’s
campus, and a preference for a building was noted. Also noted was the
possibility of giving clinics at the Renzi Center during their summer
camp.LSUS INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN SERVICES AND PUBLIC POLICY DESCRIBEDGarrett
is now working full-time as the project coordinator at the Institute
for Human Services and Public Policy at LSUS. Garrett described the
institute as basically a non-profit administration research center;
lately it’s been working on the Choice Neighborhoods project with Chloe
Haygood, mainly designing, administering, and processing surveys for it;
it’s also been working on developing promotion exams for the State
Police. Stacey Martino is the Executive Director o of the institute,
and Dr. Helen Wise (a sociology professor at LSUS) is the research
coordinator. The institute has a student association that is
interested in volunteerism; they’ll be going to to the American Humanics
Non-Profit Leadership Association in Atlanta to get certified.The
group discussed how the students could potentially partner with ABS on
projects. Possibilities noted were painting sharrows for recommended
bike routes on streets, or rake-and-rides for creating mountain bike
trails, or trail cutting itself. A study of the campus area’s problems
and possibilities for biking and walking is also a possibility. Garrett
noted the LSUS campus is very difficult--if not impossible--to access
and negotiate by bicycle. EVOLVING PARTNERSHIPS DESCRIBEDAs
an aside, Garrett said he’s become too busy to attend ABS meetings.
The group noted it appreciates his contributions in whatever form he
can give them, including now as a leader at the LSUS institute, helping
ABS partner with it. It was also noted ABS has the custom of allowing
board members to bow out gracefully when that’s the case.EVOLVING DOWNTOWN NOTEDGarrett
said he’d like to make something more permanent based on the success of
the Makers Fair. TACA uses it to promote the stuff it’s doing, like
the historical research it’s done and the app it’s developed. The group
echoed the value of the Makers Fair to the city and praised April Dahm
and David Nelson for all their work on it, as well as all the volunteers
they’ve been able to organize. There seemed to be over well over 3,000
people who attended it last week.Feico
mentioned the Municipal Auditorium will be closed for about the next
nine months because of renovations from the bond issue. Cynthia
also noted that the Barnwell Center will also be renovated, but the
only way to save the greenhouse is to redo the roof, so it appears
they’ll have to do away with the geodesic dome. (Billy the Exterminater
was called to come in and take out animals that gotten in.) It will be
open air though with the girders that you can hang stuff from; purple
martins have been a problem but they’re going to be trying to deal with
that. BIKE PATH PLANNING POSSIBILITIESLoren
described the recent visit of Dr. Bruce Sharky, LSU professor of
landscape architecture, and his four graduate students, all of whom
specialize in designing greenways. Loren gave them a tour of the city’s
various opportunities for greenways, and Feico and he then met with
them to discuss certain sites over a google map projected in a
classroom. Dr. Sharky has invited Loren go to LSU Baton Rouge on Monday
the 3rd to see the students present their projects. Maurice
wondered if there might be a way we could use the proposals as a way of
getting a bike route extended out to LSUS. They could also be included
in what Matthew Linn is planning. His first ground breaking will be
north of the city. He wants to connect from Walter B. Jacobs to other
parts of the rim that would encircle the city. Maurice has been talking
to Chris Petro of NLCOG, and has noted that LSUMC is going to be an
important node within the network. On the recent ABS bike ride from
Rhino’s to the Makers Fair, we rode by LSUMC and noted all the bicycle
locks on the racks there, evidencing the heavy weekday use. The hub of
the bike route network, technically, would be the Shreveport Commons. Garrett noted that he was glad that Maurice was part of the SRAC Commons transportation planning committee.DOG PARK OPPORTUNITIES EVOLVINGCynthia
was on the news again about the dog park. She met with Jeff Everson
and proposed that the work needed for the smaller costs be begun, since
we’ve raised a bunch of money already. Benches, etc., could be started.
It was noted that Shreveport Green is a source for the trees. In a
sense we can build it from the inside out and do the fence last. Feico
mentioned that Shreveport Green got several grants recently. We don’t
want a lot of trees, though, in a dog park; clumps yes, but they can
break their necks running into them as they watch for a ball or frisbee
that’s been thrown. Nonetheless, we don’t want to spend our money until
we know there’s support from the Mayor’s office. The first spending
could be the design, but we wouldn’t want to spend the money on anything
there unless we see the Mayor willing to have the dog park.NECESSITY OF COATES BLUFF CONSERVATION EASEMENT QUESTIONEDFeico
and Maurice discussed the necessity of a conservation easement, Maurice
questioning whether insurance liability issues make it untenable. It
was agreed that the more people use it the more developers would see it
as an asset they can use.The
three Monday meetings following Thanksgiving will feature Urban
Sociology student presentations of proposals for our city. Please come
and give your thoughts on the projects!As usual, we’ll meet in the Wright Math Building, 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Ideas & Projects

General Quality of Life Projects:

a dog park: increasingly it's an expected city amenity. At the least it's a fenced area where dogs can be off leash. Often it's a social gathering place--for the owners as much as the dogs--and can have water, benches, gazebos, etc.

a food coop: could be just a place to pickup orders with minimal necessary space. Jen Courtney runs one now out of her car.

an every day, year-round, farmer's market: Arden and Kevin Kennedy tell us Ruston has one that's every day; Lafayette has one that's year-round; could Shreveport?

high speed local rail--or normal passenger rail--through Shreveport to Dallas and Jackson; what is the status of this project?

improved bus service: think driving your car is so much more convenient and enjoyable than using public transit that it outweighs the environmental harm it does? Then you probably haven't lived in a city with a public transit system. And don't blame Sportran director Gene Eddy; he uses it himself and wishes it could be better, but his funding keeps getting cut.

the Coates Bluff Greenway: a multi-use path through the forest, including educational nature and history signage that could run from E. Washington and Youree to Stoner Ave. going behind Magnet High School; nature trailhead already establish at Savoir St.

a bicycle & pedestrian plan for the city; with one in place specific projects can be advanced more easily; support can be developed and funds acquired; projects such as:

www.bikeSB.org: a resource for those biking for transportation with maps, tips, and events

installing bike racks in the interests of bikers, property value, art, and the city's future; if a business has a bike rack, it show it wants to have a city where people can bicycle for transportation, and if has an artistic one, it could raise it's community profile and property value. Many an artist would accept a commissions to build a rack that would help advertise a business.